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Some 1,200 heavily armed military police launched an operation Wednesday to wrench control of Rio de Janeiro's slums from drug gangs, starting with the notorious Jacarezinho favela where residents took cover.

Peru demanded compensation Wednesday from Spanish energy giant Repsol over an oil spill caused by freak waves from a volcanic eruption near Tonga in the South Pacific.

Three US Supreme Court justices on Wednesday dismissed a report of a rift over the wearing of Covid face masks during hearings before the nation's highest court.

Israeli police demolished a Palestinian family's home and arrested at least 18 people as they carried out a controversial eviction order in the sensitive east Jerusalem neighbourhood of Sheikh Jarrah early Wednesday.

The US military could be forced to withdraw American soldiers currently based in Ukraine if Russia invades the country.

Italy's highest court has upheld former Brazil forward Robinho's nine-year sentence for the gang rape of a young woman, the victim's lawyer said on Wednesday.

The body of a child who apparently drowned trying to cross from Mexico to the United States has been pulled from the Rio Grande along the border, authorities said.

Greece on Wednesday received six Rafale jets from France in a multi-billion-euro arms deal which Athens and Paris claim boosts the EU's defence capabilities, but is mainly seen as countering Turkish ambitions in the Mediterranean.

The plan to restore the Florida Everglades, the largest wetlands in the United States, will receive a federal investment of $1.1 billion to protect the region against the effects of climate change, the White House said Wednesday.

Senior US diplomats met with pro-democracy activists Wednesday in Sudan as part of talks to discuss the way forward after last year's military coup, Washington's embassy in Khartoum said.

Paris Saint-Germain star Lionel Messi, who recently recovered from a Covid-19 infection, was on Wednesday left out of Argentina's squad for World Cup qualifiers against Chile and Colombia, with the twice former winners already qualified for Qatar 2022.

The Premier League could introduce new rules from February in a bid to halt the raft of postponements that threaten to cause a fixture pile-up in the final months of the season.

Temba Bavuma and Rassie van der Dussen hit centuries to set up a 31-run win for South Africa in the first one-day international against India at Boland Park in Paarl on Wednesday.

Influential fashion journalist Andre Leon Talley, the first Black creative director of Vogue, died Tuesday in New York at the age of 73, with figures from fashion and entertainment paying tribute.

A defiant Boris Johnson vowed Wednesday to remain British premier and contest the next election as calls for his resignation snowballed and a former Brexit minister demanded he quit 'in the name of God'.

Ireland head coach Andy Farrell said there is a 'nice blend' of experience and fresh talent in the 37-man squad he named ahead of the Six Nations on Wednesday.

The annual rate of inflation in Britain rose to a near 30-year high in December, official data showed Wednesday, stoking fears about a cost-of-living squeeze as wages fail to keep pace.

Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott has apologized for praising fans who pelted game officials with bottles and other missiles following the team's playoff defeat to San Francisco on Sunday.

Jacob Umaga was banned for four weeks on Wednesday following his sending-off against Toulouse in a blow to Wasps' hopes of advancing to the knockout stages of the European Champions Cup.

The powerful head of Libya's National Oil Corporation on Wednesday decried a lack of state investment in the country's vital energy sector.

Amnesty International warned on Wednesday that the international community must not allow China to use the Winter Olympics in Beijing as a "sportswashing opportunity" and must avoid being "complicit in a propaganda exercise".

Norway's Aleksander Aamodt Kilde topped Wednesday's opening training run for the famed men's World Cup downhill in Kitzbuehel.

The start of a new golf year sees Rory McIlroy picking up his annual habit of making lists as he heads to Abu Dhabi but, unlike previous seasons, the Northern Irishman is not specifying potential tournament victories.

US tech giant Microsoft's $69 billion purchase of Activision this week rocked the video game sector, but the deal may come to be remembered as the moment the metaverse went mainstream.

An exodus of older workers is the "common thread" behind the baffling labor shortages faced by companies in the United States and Britain, the IMF concluded in a report released Wednesday.

Scotland coach Gregor Townsend on Wednesday named five uncapped players in his 39-man Six Nations squad but there was no place for Gloucester fly-half Adam Hastings.

The United States appears to be emerging from its latest coronavirus wave driven by the Omicron variant, data showed Wednesday, though cases remain far higher than during any previous surge and Covid hospitalizations are at a peak.

French champagne sales rebounded last year to reach a record 5.5 billion euros ($6.2 billion) as demand soared despite the lingering impact of Covid restrictions that weighed on restaurants and bars, producers said Wednesday.

A court-appointed psychiatrist on Wednesday said Anders Behring Breivik is as dangerous now as when he carried out Norway's deadliest peacetime attack in 2011, seemingly quashing his already-slim chances of early release.

Paris Saint-Germain striker Kylian Mbappe is being treated for a groin strain with their Champions League game against Real Madrid less than a month away.

The latest coronavirus variant will weigh on US economic growth in the months ahead but will not derail it, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen assured the nation's mayors Wednesday as they gathered in Washington.

US biotech billionaire Patrick Soon-Shiong on Wednesday opened a plant in Cape Town that will be the first in Africa to produce Covid-19 vaccines from start to finish.